Today was a long day. A welcome close to the first 5 day week of the year. Celebrated by getting a pedicure. My gratefulness was reflected in the tip. Saw my daughters principal getting her nails done too! That was fun!

At work I totally freaking NAILED the 2nd grade math support schedule. With 3 tiers of support for the students and the least amount of support of all the grade levels. I don't usually pull together all the elements that simply and it was a work of art. The teachers rejoiced. And let me tell you the 2nd grade team is whacked man! Lighting their fire is very hard.

Hot damn!! Good for you and for them!!!

Very busy day. Reaped some benefits of hard work the last few weeks, but also felt on the edge already re energy. :( It's the arthritis. Sigh.

Anyway, the student who was, IMO, misplaced in my program already got dropped from it. The admin found an excuse. I think she heard me or just has some good sense. I know it sounds cold blooded, but it wasn't going to help the kid. He'd just fail. Now it's back on the parent and the Program Specialist to find him a real placement if one exists.

Sad really, but I am relieved.

OH, and I found out one of my students is genuinely hungry. Sigh. I can help, but damn. WTF? Why does this happen in America, and why did it take me this long to see the signs? He practically had to tell me.

I was able to get a lot done this weekend - but never ending.... Going to be an interesting week
- Pep Rally today, Doctors appt. Thursday for back, Fundraising assembly Friday...
-To all heading to LR - be safe have an awesome time - I hope I can be a virgin next year!
-It's Monday - Lets get it moving and grooving!

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I did no school work this weekend. Oh well. More to catch up on. I feel I *need* the two days to recuperate from the week before. Even if I don't do work stuff, it's still in my head so I don't even know how much of a break I am giving myself by NOT doing it. :blink:

In other news: Our accumulated sick days were wiped to zero. I had quite a bit stored up. Others had even more. I guess people should have used them when they really needed a break or were sick (seriously, some take hardly any) and when they HAD them. Nice, eh? :|

So I am in such a mood about work.... I have a student that I work with. This student inappropriately touched another student. I reacted strongly in going to the vice principal to explain what happened and getting things in place so it doesn't happen again (umm... been trying to set up systems to avoid this exact problem only to be turned down a couple of times). I was told "we don't do punitive consequences at this school". WTF? really I think (with out being graphic here) may a missed recess is in order. AT LEAST.

Sheesh.... Don't get me started on the other inconsistencies of this day. I am happily sick tomorrow.

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Applies to my last two classes....I warned them to not put anyone weak in there today :/

Thank you BK.... I was pretty upset. That another kid had this inappropriate experience. I made sure that admin called the victims family. That the teacher had a plan for the class community (she did and she rocks). We met as a team (without the vice principal) made a plan. It is tight on supervision (as much as they will let me) and actually got some things put in the kids plan the vice principal never lets us formalize.

FINALLY my local Board of Education primary school English person is going to do something about one of my teachers not coming to the party ... I guess Ministry of Education + key performance indicators did the trick. Plus, my zone manager said he'd visit the school next week. Never mind that I bought this issue up a month or so ago. :blink:

I spoke to one of my teachers yesterday, she hadn't heard of the latest craziness from the government/MOE about how to identify if a child is gay/lesbian (obviously transgender doesn't exist) - the telltale signs are fondness of tight, v-necked teeshirts and handbags = gay and fondness for female company = lesbian. Neverfuckingmind that girls/women spending time with each other is culturally appropriate for most of Asia! ARSEHATS!!!! But, at least this teacher (Muslim) rolled her eyes and said "aren't there more important things to worry about" and "they want girls to be spending all their time with boys is it?" She's a pretty cool teacher actually and have spent some time out of school with her.

And onwards ... today is Friday, classes won't start on time because of morning prayers in the "standard" public schools - never mind children and staff who aren't Muslim.

Chancie... I do hope you find it in you to take a break if you need it. Maybe a humorous story will come your way! I'll try to share some of mine.

So.... I outed the narcoleptic acting student as a big ole faker. Sudden sleeping when asked to work or told not now to doing something he wants. He is now getting the ride of his life. Love it. Best part... He is doing it and doing it wonderfully.

I look forward to Friday.

I had a good day too. I worked one on one with a student -- for two hours. We did Algebra -- I got confused and we both figured it out. We did U.S. History, and we worked on a collage. He has insisted that he is not creative, but he associated two ideas -- the idea of a coming apocalypse (his idea for the collage) and the idea of a clock (time is running out). And then he used a motif of clocks on the collage. Simple stuff, but he didn't think he had it in him. Math is his strong suit. I had to read the history to him, but he got the concepts immediately. Anyway, it was fun.

It's good to see some of the kids doing more each week -- and hating it less too. School has been a miserable experience for most of my students. All it has meant is feeling stupid and getting in trouble.